In the context of local authorities in the United Kingdom no overall control (NOC; Welsh : dim rheolaeth gyffredinol) [1] is a situation in which no single political group achieves a majority of seats, comparable to a hung parliament. Of the 248 councils who had members up for election in the 2019 local elections, 73 (over a quarter) resulted in a NOC administration. In the 2021 local elections, 14 resulted in no overall control. Outside of the UK, the term may be applied to other local authorities, such as the local councils of Malta and the General Assembly of Budapest in Hungary.
Typically, if no party achieves overall control of a council, the largest grouping will form alliances to create an ad hoc governing coalition. Often local authorities have larger proportions of smaller party and independent members than the House of Commons, and when there is no overall control this often results in minor groups having more influence than their numbers alone would suggest.
In a result of no overall control, the largest party may attempt to govern as a minority administration. Parties may also work together to create a formal deal, which can range from a confidence and supply deal [a] to full coalition. Deals, especially the looser kind, can occur between parties which are not traditionally aligned on a national level. For example, a minority Conservative administration was formed in 2019 in Bolton supported by the Liberal Democrats and UKIP, [2] whilst a Labour-UKIP formal coalition existed in Basildon. [3] Following the 2017 Aberdeen City Council election, all nine Labour councillors were expelled from the party for entering into a coalition with the Conservatives. [4]
It is possible for a council to be under no overall control even when there appears to be an overall majority, in particular in the case of a majority of independents, who commonly have no collective policies when elected. This can also arise when the council members divide on other than party lines. For instance, the 2004 elections to the Isle of Anglesey County Council returned more independents than all others put together, but only Plaid Cymru maintained a party group within the council, and not all of its elected members joined the group. The remainder of the council, including some members of other political parties, formed four non-partisan groups, none of which held a majority. The 2008 elections resulted in a group called the Original Independents gaining an overall majority. [5]
No overall control is more common in Northern Ireland and Scotland, in part due to their usage of single transferable vote as opposed to the plurality block voting system used in England and Wales. Following the 2022 Scottish local elections, twenty-seven of the thirty-two councils were under no overall control, with a further three having a majority of independents. [6] Following the 2023 Northern Ireland local elections, all eleven councils were under no overall control.
| Council | Seats | Largest party | Seats | Control [7] | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devon | 60 | Liberal Democrats | 27 | Liberal Democrats/Green coalition | 33 | ||
| East Sussex | 50 | Conservative | 24 | Conservative minority | 24 | ||
| Gloucestershire | 55 | Liberal Democrats | 27 | Liberal Democrats minority | 27 | ||
| Hertfordshire | 78 | Liberal Democrats | 31 | Liberal Democrats minority | 31 | ||
| Leicestershire | 55 | Reform UK | 25 | Reform UK minority | 25 | ||
| Surrey | 81 | Conservative | 40 | Conservative minority | 40 | ||
| Warwickshire | 57 | Reform UK | 23 | Reform UK minority | 23 | ||
| Worcestershire | 57 | Reform UK | 27 | Reform UK minority | 27 | ||
| Council | Seats | Largest party | Seats | Control [8] | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolton | 60 | Labour | 26 | Labour minority | 26 | ||
| Dudley | 72 | Conservative | 34 | Conservative minority | 34 | ||
| Kirklees | 69 | Labour | 24 | Labour minority | 24 | ||
| Oldham | 60 | Labour | 27 | Labour minority | 27 | ||
| Sheffield | 84 | Labour | 36 | Labour/Liberal Democrats/Green coalition | 77 | ||
| Stockport | 63 | Liberal Democrats | 31 | Liberal Democrats minority | 31 | ||
| Wirral | 66 | Labour | 29 | Labour minority | 29 | ||
| Council | Seats | Largest party | Seats | Control [13] | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croydon | 71 | Conservative | 34 | Conservative mayor | 34 | ||
| Labour | 34 | ||||||
| Havering | 55 | Havering Residents Association | 22 | Havering Residents Association/Labour coalition | 31 | ||
| Tower Hamlets | 45 | Aspire | 21 + mayor | Aspire mayor | 21 + mayor | ||
| Council | Seats | Largest party | Seats | Control [14] | Seats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conwy | 55 | Independent | 23 | Independent/Labour/Plaid Cymru coalition [c] | 37 | ||
| Denbighshire | 48 | Labour | 15 | Labour/Plaid Cymru coalition | 23 | ||
| Flintshire | 67 | Labour | 27 | Labour minority | 27 | ||
| Merthyr Tydfil | 30 | Independent | 16 | Independent minority | 15 | ||
| Monmouthshire | 46 | Labour | 22 | Labour minority | 22 | ||
| Neath Port Talbot | 60 | Labour | 27 | Independent/Plaid Cymru coalition [d] | 29 | ||
| Pembrokeshire | 60 | Independent | 35 | Independent/Labour/Liberal Democrats coalition | 29 | ||
| Powys | 68 | Liberal Democrats | 22 | Liberal Democrats/Labour coalition | 31 | ||
| Vale of Glamorgan | 54 | Labour | 25 | Labour/Llantwit First Independents/Independent coalition | 30 | ||
| Wrexham | 56 | Independent | 24 | Independent/Conservative coalition | 30 | ||